Book Themes

We have organized the book around five themes or conversations. Each theme includes an introductory essay by us as well as original readings from classical and contemporary theorists. The essays include vignettes on topics ranging from smart phones and social networking sites to the global financial crisis and the digital divide, as well as overviews of key concepts and ideas found in the readings.

The classic novel Lord of the Flies helps us see that social order is both a product of our own making and something much more powerful than the sum of its parts. We move from the social facts of Durkheim to more contemporary takes on the enigma of social order.

Readings

Classical Connections: Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method

Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society

Emile Durkheim, Suicide

Emile Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life

Contemporary Extensions: Social Order Re-Wired

Robert Merton, Manifest and Latent Functions

Harold Garfinkel, Studies in Ethnomethodology

Bruno Latour, Mixing Humans and nonhuman Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer

Today’s global financial crisis reminds us that economic troubles have profound consequences for social relationships. Marx sets the stage for a lively discussion of the role the economy plays in our global age, and Wallerstein, Castells, and Bourdieu provide contemporary visions of the many links between the economic and the social.

Readings

Classical Connections: Karl Marx

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party

Karl Marx, Capital

Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

Contemporary Extensions: Capital Re-Wired

Immanuel Wallerstein, The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System

Manuel Castells, Materials for an Exploratory Theory of the Network Society

Smart phones are but one example of how our social world is becoming more and more shaped by technology. From the pious Puritans of Weber to the one-dimensional men of the Frankfurt School, we explore the pitfalls and promises of a rationalized, modern society.

Readings

Classical Connections: Max Weber

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Max Weber, Basic Sociological Terms

Max Weber, The Types of Legitimate Domination

Max Weber, Bureaucracy

Max Weber, Class, Status, Party

Contemporary Extensions: The Rational Society Re-Wired

The production of knowledge on the internet is not as democratic as we might think. Du Bois, de Beauvoir, and more contemporary voices within critical race, postcolonial, and feminist thought remind us the same is true in social theory.

Our Facebook profiles provide a glimpse of the collective foundations of our individual selves. Mead and Simmel lay the foundations for thinking about the social origins of the self, and Goffman, Foucault, and others provide provocative takes on what identity means in today’s complicated world.

Readings

Classical Connections: George Herbert Mead and Georg Simmel

George Herbert Mead, Self

Georg Simmel, The Metropolis and Mental Life

Georg Simmel, The Stranger

Contemporary Extensions: Identity Re-Wired

Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality

Judith Butler, Gender Trouble

Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity

Alternate table of contents

All of the content on this site can be browsed by theorist or tradition through the profiles section. Here’s an alternative way to view the content.View the table of contents